With the proliferation of consumer electronics (CE) devices, many users own several CE devices for handling different functions. Multiple devices may be able to perform the same function, an example of which involves a TV, a PC and a personal media player (PMP), each of which provides a video playback function. On the other hand, certain functions may be provided only by one device. For example, high-definition (HD) quality video capture may be only supported by a HD camcorder.
The CE industry has attempted to integrate different functionalities into a single device. An example is the case of cellular phones. However, such attempts have several shortcomings. One shortcoming involves high price of such an integrated device. Another is lack of robustness in that if part of the device malfunctions, all of its functions may be disabled. Yet another shortcoming is that functionality requirements greatly vary from one user to another, and functions of such a device may not satisfy different users. Further, certain functions may be supported in a limited manner by some devices (e.g., text inputting and web browsing on cell phone small screens is frequently annoying).